Page images
PDF
EPUB

"walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity "of their mind;" and caution them to "let "no man deceive them with vain words; for "because of these things the wrath of God "cometh on the children of difobedience;" and bid them "put on the whole armour of "God, that they may be able to ftand againft "the wiles of the devil, to withftand in the "evil day, and having done all to ftand *?" Wherefore does he exhort "the faints in "Chrift Jefus at Philippi," whom he commends for their Chriftian character, and defcribes as "partakers of his grace," to "be"ware of the dangers which befet them;" to "ftand faft in the Lord;" and to "work out "their own falvation with fear and trembling;" that he may" rejoice in the day of Christ, that "he has not run in vain, neither laboured in "vain?" Wherefore, in writing to "the faints "and faithful brethren at Coloffe," whom he ftyles "the elect of God, holy and beloved," does he promise the bleffings of Chrift's facri fice, "if they continued in the faith rooted and "fettled, and were not moved away from the

[ocr errors]

hope of the Gospel m?" Wherefore to the church of the Theffalonians, of whom he de

Eph. i. 3, 4, 5, 6. iv. 1, 17. v. 6. vi. 11, 1 Phil. i. 1, 7. iii. 2. iv. 1. ii. 12, 26.

Col. i. 2. iii, 12. i. 23.

13.

clares, that he knows their election of God," and that "God had from the beginning chofen "them to falvation through fanctification of "the Spirit and belief of the truth," does he fignify his apprehenfion "left by fome means "the tempter fhould have tempted them, and "his labour fhould be in vain "?" Wherefore does St. John, addreffing himself to "the elect

lady and her children," admonish them to "look to themselves; that we lofe not," he adds, "thofe things which we have wrought, "but that we receive a full reward°?" And wherefore does St. Peter, writing to thofe, whom he reprefents as having obtained like

66

66

precious faith with himfelf," and whom he ftyles "elect according to the foreknowledge "of God the Father," at the fame time moft fervently charge them, to "be fober and vigi"lant" in withstanding the artifices of the devil; to "beware, left they being led away "with the error of the wicked, fhould fall " from their own steadfastness;" and to "give diligence to make their calling and election "fure P?"

[ocr errors]

Surely if there ever was an individual of a character inferior to the apoftolical, who might be regarded as abfolutely predeftined to fal

a 1 Theff. i. 4. i. 5. 2 Theff. ii. 19.

• 2 John, ver. 8.

Pet. i. J. 1 Pet. i. 2. v. 8. iii. 17. i. 10.

[ocr errors]

vation, it was Timothy, St. Paul's "own fon "in the faith." Wherefore then does St. Paul charge him with paternal authority, to "take heed unto himself," that fo he might be faved; to "flee foolish and hurtful lufts, which "drown men in perdition and destruction;" to "follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, "love, patience, meeknefs;" to "fight the "good fight of faith," and fo to "lay hold on eternal life ?"

Surely if ever an Apoftle may be considered as abfolutely elected to everlafting life, it was St. Paul himself, converted by the miraculous interpofition of Chrift to a profeffion of his religion; "a veffel chofen by the Lord to bear

his name before the Gentiles, and kings, and "the children of Ifrael;" filled with the Holy Ghoft; and "separated" by his especial ap pointment to the work whereunto he had "called him." Wherefore then does St. Paul affirm of himself: "Brethren, I count not my "felf to have apprehended; but this one thing "I do, forgetting those things which are be

hind, and reaching forth unto thofe things "which are before, I prefs toward the mark "for the prize of the high calling of God in "Chrift Jefus?" And what meaning, fhort of

1 Tim. iv. 16. vi. 9, 11, 12.

Acts. ix. 15. xiii, 2.

• Phil. iii. 13,

66

a poffibility of his ultimate rejection, can be understood by that declaration, where, urging the neceffity of temperance in the Chriftian race, he immediately fubjoins, "I therefore fo run, not as uncertainly; fo fight I, not as that beateth the air; but I keep under 66 my body, and bring it into subjection, left "that by any means, when I have preached "to others, I myself fhould be a caftaway ?".

[ocr errors]

one

Peter undoubtedly did fall from grace: although by the interceffion of Chrift, which implies that he was in danger of an irrecoverable fall, he was enabled to repent and rife again. And the example of Judas affords a still more awful warning to thofe, who have been elected like him to the Gofpel, but who have certainly been endowed with lefs noble fpiritual gifts than he, to take good heed, left they also prove traitors to their Mafter, and fall into final perdition. Judas indeed, we may be told, "as truly lived, moved, and had his

being from God, as Peter:" that whilft the other Apostles "were chofen to partake of "Chrift's kingdom, he was chofen and pitched

46

upon to betray him, and to be the means of fhedding his blood:" that both the final perfeverance of the one, and the rejection of the other, were folely effected by God's free and

1 Cor. ix. 26, 97

abfolute will, for that "he gave repentance to "Peter, and left Judas to perish in his fin". Rather let us adhere to the founder doctrine of Latimer, ("that veteran and true apostle of

our nation and of Chrift," as his brother martyr styled him,) unfophifticated by the comment of the author to whom I have juft referred; Chrift fhed as much blood for "Judas as he did for Peter; Peter believed it, "and therefore he was faved; Judas would not believe, and therefore he was condemned; the fault being in him only, and in nobody elfe."

2. With respect to the latter point that was to be proved, namely, as the fame venerable Reformer expreffes it, that "there are none of "us all, but we may be faved by Chrift;" and that men are the cause of their own damna

tion, for that God would have them faved, "but they refufe it, like as did Judas the trai"tor, whom Chrift would have had to be

faved, but he refufed his falvation ":" if every man is not capable of performing the fervices

Toplady on Predeft. p. 64, 110, 68.

Ridley's Life of Bishop Ridley, p. 593.

Sermons, vol. ii. page 556. See Winchester on the feventeenth Article in the Churchman's Remembrancer, No. i. p. 66. and Mr. Churton's Biographical Preface, P. xvi.

Latimer's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 891, 888,

« PreviousContinue »